Mayday

An old school buddy-comedy action film in every sense, Mayday is not only set during the Cold War, it also captures the larger-than-life tone of the 80s genre movies.  While it doesn’t (try to) reinvent the wheel, the pairing of Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh is more than enough to ensure that the film is always fun, even if a little predictable.

Premise:  In 1987, during the waning years of the Cold War, US pilot Troy "Assassin" Kelly (Ryan Reynolds) is shot down while flying a top-secret spy-plane mission over Soviet Russia.  Injured, and two thousand miles from the border, Troy is found by Nikolai “Nik” Ustinov (Kenneth Branagh) – a reclusive Russian obsessed with Top Gun and American pop culture, who proves to be surprisingly capable in a crisis.

Review:

Sometimes, it’s great to see a movie which sets out to show you something unlike anything you’ve ever seen before – but other times, it’s fun to see a film that takes a familiar idea and executes it well.  You could argue that the last two films from writing/directing duo Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley fit both of these descriptions: 2023’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves was incredibly inventive and original (and was my Film of the Year for 2023), while Mayday doesn’t appear to be trying to reinvent the wheel when it comes to the buddy-comedy action formula, but it’s definitely having fun playing in that genre.

It’s perhaps unfair to say that Mayday doesn’t bring anything new to the mix, as it does set out to subvert expectations to some degree by reversing the roles played by Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh.  When the movie was first announced, you’d have been forgiven for assuming that Ryan Reynolds – the once and future Deadpool – would be the action hero, while the Shakespearian Kenneth Branagh – who even in action films like Tenet rarely gets his hands bloodied – would be the half of the odd couple in need of rescue.  But instead, Ryan Reynold’s Troy is injured in the initial crash, leaving him vulnerable and trapped behind enemy lines – while Kenneth Branagh’s Nik quickly demonstrates that he’s far more capable in a fight than Troy assumes on their first meeting.

“…impressive fight choreography performed by Kenneth Branagh…”

Of course, this being an action comedy, Nik’s surprisingly brutal levels of martial prowess are played predominantly for laughs (which is why I wouldn’t necessarily put this film in the “geriaction” sub-genre), but none of that takes away from the impressive fight choreography performed by Kenneth Branagh.  There are two or three really memorable – and fun – action sequences in this film that can stand up alongside anything in a straight-up action movie.

Ass-kicking aside, the rest of the odd couple dynamic between the characters is perhaps as you might expect, with Ryan Reynold’s Troy being the smart-mouth always ready with a sarcastic comment, and Kenneth Branagh’s Nik being the straight-faced foil – although Nik also has a very dry sense of humour and gets plenty of laughs in his own right.  As a pairing, Troy and Nik work really well together – their buddy-comedy charisma is lighter and breezier than, say, the R-rated shenanigans in The Hitman’s Bodyguard or The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, and there are plenty of (relatively family-friendly 12-rated) laughs to be had.  I was lucky enough to see this film with an audience in a cinema (despite it being an Apple-TV movie), and there were several scenes that had the audience laughing out loud, including a couple of great gags, one involving a bootleg VHS and another set in a Russian government minister’s holiday home.

“…examines America’s image of itself as ‘the hero’ of the world stage…”

Alongside the fun action sequences and the genuinely amusing comedy, Mayday does attempt to add a little emotional depth in places, with varying results.  A lot of those moments may lack subtlety (like Troy’s unquestioning patriotism and obviously unreasonable prejudices against the Russian people, which you just know he’s going to have to question by the end of the movie) ... and yet, in today’s world of polarised politics and beliefs, it’s hard to blame the filmmakers for feeling that this message – that you can’t judge a whole group of people en masse and forget that they are individual human beings – is sadly one which audiences still need to be reminded of.

Equally, the film had some surprising (if equally unsubtle) points to make about holding authority to account and speaking truth to power, including an effecting plot thread involving David Morse as Troy’s father.  This also felt like a message that needs to be heard in today’s world, and the examination of America’s (self-promoted) image of itself as ‘the hero’ of the world stage also added depth to the film in a way I wasn’t expecting.

“…this movie is never not fun…”

Marcin Dorocinski is effective in his role as the KGB agent in pursuit of the stranded US pilot, and he makes sure his character feels more rounded than a simple cut-out villain.  And although Maria Bakalova has very little screentime as Nik’s estranged daughter, she does a lot with it, and brings an unexpected amount of emotional impact to her relatively small role.

But for all intents and purposes, this is really a two-hander between Reynolds and Branagh.  Thankfully, they are more than up to the task, and while the plot to Mayday may be a little predictable for the most part, the performances from Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh mean that this movie is never not fun.  And just as they did with Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves, Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley find the perfect line to cut to the end credits on.